FDA CVM Vet-LIRN PROGRAM GRANT PROPOSAL FOR FOA # PAR-18-604 ?Vet-LIRN Network Capacity-Building Projects? ABSTRACT This grant proposal from the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) is in response to Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) # PAR-18-604 from the Food and Drug Administration?s (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) Office of Research Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network (Vet-LIRN). The project is titled ?Improvement of laboratory capacity for outbreak investigation of foodborne pathogens for FDA VET-LIRN?. This proposal from ODA?s Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL) addresses the following key project areas: 1. Increasing the capacity of laboratories conducting pathogen susceptibility testing by funding the updating or purchasing of additional equipment. 2. Procurement of supplies needed for AMR testing efforts or method improvement. 3. Upgrade of liquid handling system for handling of samples for Vet-LIRN foodborne pathogen case investigations. 4. Conduct increased testing in response to a new need identified by the VPO. 5. Participation in multi-laboratory blinded tests to validate newly developed Vet-LIRN Network methods. The ADDL is also poised to address new developments in emerging regulatory sciences as well as urgent or novel areas for potential research. Several additional documents including the internal Proficiency Testing (PT) results (appendix of Research Plan), and certificate of AAVLD accreditation (appendix of Research Plan) are provided along with the